1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of electronic musical instruments.
2. Prior Art
In addition to my prior patent application, the following patents, which have been revealed by a search, are deemed pertinent to my invention but do not anticipate it:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,343 (Woll) issued Sept. 5, 1967. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,375 (Hopping) issued Aug. 18, 1970. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,555,166 (Gasser) issued Jan. 12, 1971. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,546,353 (Jenny) issue Dec. 8, 1970. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,641 (Allen, et al.) issued May 16, 1972. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,559 (Suzuki, et al.) issued Sept. 26, 1972.
The Woll patent utilizes key switch actuators as frets which actuate mechanical switches to choose the tone of the simulated string. Such switches do not provide the tactility and expressiveness which are characteristic of my invention. Priority of frets is achieved by single-pole, double-throw switches.
The Hopping patent is addressed primarily to an electrical musical instrument which utilizes a pressure gradient switch for voicing control and is unrelated to this invention.
The Gasser patent utilizes hard-contact switches on the neck of the instrument, even as Woll did. The problems of such switches have been recited in connection with the discussion of Woll.
The Jenny patent is directed to an electronic musical instrument in which tone is chosen by means of a conductive stylus or probe. Such an instrument would be difficult to play for a musician skilled in guitar playing.
Allen uses capacitive switches for pitch selection and no prior circuit is shown or suggested. My invention utilizes capacitive sensing for damping tones rather than for pitch selection. Piezo electric elements in combination with strings amplitude modulate the output signal of the instrument. No such Piezo-electric elements are essential in my device.
Suzuki utilizes variable resistor fingerboards coupled to variable frequency oscillators, with the frequency being a function of the pressure applied to the fingerboards. No touch sensor damping switch is utilized in the Suzuki device or in any art known to applicant.
A monophonic instrument has also been announced very recently by a company called Oncor Sound, Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah. The date of the development of this instrument is unknown but is believed to be very recent. It relies on a grounded metal back on the arm or neck of the instrument, which is held in the left hand. Its literature says, "when the frets are touched, the potential is sufficient to switch them on." Again, the date of this development is unknown, but, because it has only recently been announced, it is believed to be of recent vintage. The right hand or strumming portion of the instrument describes "an improved sensor for pick-up on the strum action." Further, it describes "perfect contact from the strum bar to the sensor." I do not use any such structure and my instrument is polyphonic. Further, the ONCOR system lacks tactility and expressive capabilities.
In a conventional mechanically-tuned string instrument, the strings are manually excited in a manner known as picking, plucking, or strumming. The extent to which the string or strings are excited determines the sound pressure level emanating from the string, while the attack, decay and tone characteristics are a function of the entire mechanical system and, therefore, are relatively fixed for a given instrument. In addition, the conventional instrument provides for "snubbing," which is the manual damping of the resonating system by placement of the hand or finger directly onto the vibrating string, as well as the frequency modulation effects that are introduced by the "bending" of the string.
With the exception of the limited control of attack, decay and tone, the aforementioned elements provide the performer with a great deal of musical expression utilizing simple techniques, and probably account largely for the guitar's popularity. The evolution of the electric, or amplified guitar and related tone modifying systems, plus the more recent synthesizer techniques which have been applied to the conventional stringed instruments, illustrates a popular desire to expand the more limited nature of their mechanical systems. The majority of these approaches rely on the mechanically tuned string as the tone generator, and therefore are inherently limited as to tone structure and envelope, and in many cases, suffer in response time.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved electronic musical instrument.
It is a further object of this invention, to provide an instrument, the tone structure, envelope, pitch and range of which are electronically generated, yet which preserves the important tactile elements familiar to the fretted instrument player, and more importantly, allows the inflection of expression typical of stringed instruments.